Biodiversity is where many different species live symbiotically in an area together, for example, in a rain forest,
a desert or on a mountain. Biodiversity is where animals survive by living off each other, from prey to predator, from plant to herbivore, and decomposed organic matter to plant. These relationships create stability for a healthy ecosystem to continue and where flora and fauna to thrive.
Biodiversity increases the closer to the equator: the number of species increases the more tropical the environment. The Tropics contain 2/3 of the all the species in the world.
Biodiversity is important because with out other animals to help them, individual species can become extinct.
If, for example, humans build a house or develop a farm on a plain, animals which originally could cross to hunt or breed or graze cannot any more. This will mean that the population will slow or decrease because of such problems as inbreeding. Also if a species is confined to an area like a park in the middle of a city and a fire or disease come through and threatens to wipe out all or most or the animals, then there's no where for them to escape to or, on the other hand, a way for more animals to come in and inhabit the park; this could mean the species could become extinct or threatened.
Introducing species can create terrible problems for the local ecosystem, for the introduced species might overcome the indigenous species by breeding rapidly, spreading out and taking over the area. The introduced species can destroy the habitat for the indigenous inhabitants by eating out certain plants, destroying the soil or ground covers with hard hoofs, putting strains on water supplies, or destroying breeding areas for other species such as in swamps and marshlands . This has happened in Australia with rabbits, foxes and European carp and in America and Europe with introduced plants which have become weeds and the breeding and domestication of agricultural animals which require large areas of cleared land to graze. Domesticated animals flatten the land and eat out local vegetation, defecate on the land which provides fertilizer, all of these things make a great habitat for weeds.
Humans have helped greatly in reducing biodiversity by killing wildlife for sport and commerce such as furs. Because of this some animals have become threatened and even extinct: Organisations such as Greenpeace are actively trying to reverse this by calling for bans against whaling and duck shooting and baby seal culls for example. They recognise that by reducing or removing a species from an environment can have serious consequences for the other organisms living there.
After
Urban living has also affected biodiversity. Building on or near habitats of native species destroys where they live and forces them to move elsewhere - if there is some were else. This reduces the number of species because only a certain number can live in one place. In Australia, the koala, among many native species, is under threat because of the urban sprawl. The number of feral animals however is increasing because they are more adaptable to the changed environment living off garbage dumps and what's left of the native population. In South America, around the Amazon Basin numbers of species of primates are threatened because of clearing for homes and agriculture. Farms are being developed in areas around the world that shouldn't or can't be farmed on: practices like draining water or adding water through irrigation leaches nutrients from the soil, changing the landforms through lasering both make the area unlivable for indigenous life forms.
Humans have also created pollution which will also destroy biodiversity: water pollution from factories, chemical runoffs from farms, domestic grey water can poison the water ways and kill or genetically affect all the animals which drink it. Blue-Green Algal blooms in river systems is toxic to any organism that drinks it. It is caused by high temperatures and faecal waste from farm animals watering in water sources or chemical fertilizer run-off entering the system. Humans need to come up with safer ways to dispose of waste than ways that cause degrading or poisoning the soil and water tables.
The Environment can often recover from degradation by itself, but we need to give it time. By expelling pollution into the air and water humans are destroying the biodiversity around that source; we should stop using or at least slow down using items that produce pollution. Cars and factories emit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide which when mixed with water vapor creates acid rain which removes nutrients from the soil and kills trees. We should not dispose anything except rain water down storm water drains, for example, paints, detergents, motor oils, etc.
Amur Leopard - Endangared
The Amur Leopard is an critically endangered species with less than 40 individuals left. Their numbers are so low because people hunted them to near extinction for their fur. Also deforestation of the area has removed prey from this predator. The Amur Leopard's habitat is temperate broardleaf and mixed forests in Far East Russia and Northern China. Its scientific name is Panthera Pardus Orientalis, common names include: Amur Leopard, Far East Leopard, Manchurian Leopard and
Korean Leopard.
Description
The Amur Leopard's coat in summer one inch long while in winter it's three incheso long to protect them from the cold. They also have longer legs
, than the other species, for walking though snow. "Amur Leopard is easily told apart from other leopard sub species by its widely spaced rosettes with thick borders." (www.arkive.org/amur-leopard). Although they don't roar or growl like lions, tigers or other big cats, they give a distinctive rasping call. These
10% of the Amur Leopard population
Leopards weigh from 55 to 95 lbs for females and 70 to 105 lbs for males. An interesting facts is that report ably an Amur Leopard has leeped more than 19 feet horizontally and more than 9 feet vertically.
Western Quoll - Threatened
Known in Australia as the native cat, the Western Quoll or the Chiditch, is a threatened species. It's scientific name is Dasyurus Geoffroii . Their numbers are so low because of early settlers in Australia killing many of these animals because they killed and eat many of their chickens. Also when foxes and diseases were introduced and habitat was lost, their numbers fell dramatically.
Description
The Western Quoll is the size of a domestic cat, about 60 cm, females are a bit smaller than males. It's coat is a reddish-brown colour with distinctive white spots and white underneath. Their swift runners and cover a large area of ground for food. They have five toes on each foot and is a nocturnal hunter.
Lesser Bilby - Extinct
The Lesser Bilby was a native Australian marsupial, it lived in central Australia in Gibson and Great Sandy deserts of Australia. Its range may have been greater but it is not known. The Lesser Bilby's common names are Yallara, the Lesser Rabbit-eared Bandicoot or the White-tailed Rabbit-eared Bandicoot and Scientific name is.
Area inhabited by Lesser Bilby - None
The Lesser Bilby was a rabbit like animal reaching the size of a young rabbit. This marsupial was first discovered in 1887 and was known to be extinct in 1932. It was a omnivore and eat termites, ants and roots. Its fur colour faded from brown grey to light grey underneath. The Lesser Bilby only weighed 300 to 450 grams. It was killed off by fur trapping, competition from rabbits and predators like foxes and feral cats. The last specimen was found in a Wedge-Tailed Eagle's nest in 1967.
Felix' Biodiversity Web Page
Biodiversity Back
a desert or on a mountain. Biodiversity is where animals survive by living off each other, from prey to predator, from plant to herbivore, and decomposed organic matter to plant. These relationships create stability for a healthy ecosystem to continue and where flora and fauna to thrive.
Biodiversity increases the closer to the equator: the number of species increases the more tropical the environment. The Tropics contain 2/3 of the all the species in the world.
Biodiversity is important because with out other animals to help them, individual species can become extinct.
If, for example, humans build a house or develop a farm on a plain, animals which originally could cross to hunt or breed or graze cannot any more. This will mean that the population will slow or decrease because of such problems as inbreeding. Also if a species is confined to an area like a park in the middle of a city and a fire or disease come through and threatens to wipe out all or most or the animals, then there's no where for them to escape to or, on the other hand, a way for more animals to come in and inhabit the park; this could mean the species could become extinct or threatened.
Introducing species can create terrible problems for the local ecosystem, for the introduced species might overcome the indigenous species by breeding rapidly, spreading out and taking over the area. The introduced species can destroy the habitat for the indigenous inhabitants by eating out certain plants, destroying the soil or ground covers with hard hoofs, putting strains on water supplies, or destroying breeding areas for other species such as in swamps and marshlands . This has happened in Australia with rabbits, foxes and European carp and in America and Europe with introduced plants which have become weeds and the breeding and domestication of agricultural animals which require large areas of cleared land to graze. Domesticated animals flatten the land and eat out local vegetation, defecate on the land which provides fertilizer, all of these things make a great habitat for weeds.
Humans have helped greatly in reducing biodiversity by killing wildlife for sport and commerce such as furs. Because of this some animals have become threatened and even extinct: Organisations such as Greenpeace are actively trying to reverse this by calling for bans against whaling and duck shooting and baby seal culls for example. They recognise that by reducing or removing a species from an environment can have serious consequences for the other organisms living there.
Urban living has also affected biodiversity. Building on or near habitats of native species destroys where they live and forces them to move elsewhere - if there is some were else. This reduces the number of species because only a certain number can live in one place. In Australia, the koala, among many native species, is under threat because of the urban sprawl. The number of feral animals however is increasing because they are more adaptable to the changed environment living off garbage dumps and what's left of the native population. In South America, around the Amazon Basin numbers of species of primates are threatened because of clearing for homes and agriculture. Farms are being developed in areas around the world that shouldn't or can't be farmed on: practices like draining water or adding water through irrigation leaches nutrients from the soil, changing the landforms through lasering both make the area unlivable for indigenous life forms.
Humans have also created pollution which will also destroy biodiversity: water pollution from factories, chemical runoffs from farms, domestic grey water can poison the water ways and kill or genetically affect all the animals which drink it. Blue-Green Algal blooms in river systems is toxic to any organism that drinks it. It is caused by high temperatures and faecal waste from farm animals watering in water sources or chemical fertilizer run-off entering the system. Humans need to come up with safer ways to dispose of waste than ways that cause degrading or poisoning the soil and water tables.
The Environment can often recover from degradation by itself, but we need to give it time. By expelling pollution into the air and water humans are destroying the biodiversity around that source; we should stop using or at least slow down using items that produce pollution. Cars and factories emit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide which when mixed with water vapor creates acid rain which removes nutrients from the soil and kills trees. We should not dispose anything except rain water down storm water drains, for example, paints, detergents, motor oils, etc.
Amur Leopard - Endangared
The Amur Leopard is an critically endangered species with less than 40 individuals left. Their numbers are so low because people hunted them to near extinction for their fur. Also deforestation of the area has removed prey from this predator. The Amur Leopard's habitat is temperate broardleaf and mixed forests in Far East Russia and Northern China. Its scientific name is Panthera Pardus Orientalis, common names include: Amur Leopard, Far East Leopard, Manchurian Leopard and
Korean Leopard.Description
The Amur Leopard's coat in summer one inch long while in winter it's three incheso long to protect them from the cold. They also have longer legs, than the other species, for walking though snow. "Amur Leopard is easily told apart from other leopard sub species by its widely spaced rosettes with thick borders." (www.arkive.org/amur-leopard). Although they don't roar or growl like lions, tigers or other big cats, they give a distinctive rasping call. These
Western Quoll - Threatened
Known in Australia as the native cat, the Western Quoll or the Chiditch, is a threatened species. It's scientific name is Dasyurus Geoffroii . Their numbers are so low because of early settlers in Australia killing many ofDescription
The Western Quoll is the size of a domestic cat, about 60 cm, females are a bit smaller than males. It's coat is a reddish-brown colour with distinctive white spots and white underneath. Their swift runners and cover a large area of ground for food. They have five toes on each foot and is a nocturnal hunter.Lesser Bilby - Extinct
The Lesser Bilby was a native Australian marsupial, it lived in central Australia in Gibson and Great Sandy deserts of Australia. Its range may have been greater but it is not known.The Lesser Bilby was a rabbit like animal reaching the size of a young rabbit. This marsupial was first discovered in 1887 and was known to be extinct in 1932. It was a omnivore and eat termites, ants and roots. Its fur colour faded from brown grey to light grey underneath. The Lesser Bilby only weighed 300 to 450 grams. It was killed off by fur trapping, competition from rabbits and predators like foxes and feral cats. The last specimen was found in a Wedge-Tailed Eagle's nest in 1967.
Bibliography
http://a-z-animals.com/images/animals/quoll_large.jpghttp://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=330
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/firstblog/files/2008/10/quollf.jpg
http://www.arkive.org/amur-leopard/panthera-pardus-orientalis/info.html
http://ridge.icu.ac.jp/gen-ed/biogeog-jpgs/olympus-temp-rainforest.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Acid_rain_woods1.JPG/800px-Acid_rain_woods1.JPG
http://www.wdmoore.com.au/Portals/0/images/aus_map.gif
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=283